Residence & Roommate Assignments

Requesting your housing

Please be sure to set up your email and password on the Garnet Gateway prior to accessing HouseCat. These are the credentials you will use to login to the portal.

The online Residence & Roommate Application Form will open in June, and will be open for the month. The information submitted through this form will help us assign compatible roommates. You should answer all questions honestly and provide additional information that you feel could assist us with your placement in the comment box. The application will be available on the HouseCat portal, which you will log into using your email username (without the @bates.edu) and password. You must set up your email account on the Garnet Gateway before you can login. To view basic instructions for the application portal, please click here.

Your roommate and room assignment will be posted on Garnet Gateway. This includes your room assignment, the name(s) of your roommate(s) and their address(es), phone number(s) and Bates e-mail address(es) so that you can contact one another ahead of time and coordinate Things To Bring.Your mailing address will also be included in this notification.

Not all students can be placed in their first choice residence due to space limitations. We will try to arrange the best possible matches for each student, but we ask you to keep an open mind and remember that flexibility and respect are two very important components of a successful rooming situation.

Important information and suggestions

All first-year students will be assigned a roommate(s). Student Affairs strongly discourages first-year students from requesting specific roommates as, in our experience, first-year students fare better with roommates selected by the Office of Residence Life and Health Education than with those chosen by the students themselves.

Upper-class transfer students who are new to Bates will be housed in residences with other upper-class students. Please see theHousing Tour section for housing types and options available to you. You will need to rank your preference for all options before you submit your form.